In today's world the global healthcare area faces major changes. The future holds further medical advancement with an increasing elderly population demanding extended care. To improve compliance for e.g. the elderly population, packing of medicine in daily unit/multiple dose packages (“dose dispensing”) is implemented in more and more countries such as, e.g., European countries. Typically the medicine is dosed for a two weeks period of time and the daily dose package contains e.g. packages/bags for the morning, noon, evening and night medication. On each bag information about the person and the medicine are printed.
Development of tablets that are sufficiently robust to be dispensed via a dose-dispensing machine is a particular challenge when the tablets are formulated as chewable tablets. Normally, chewable tablets do not have sufficient technical properties, which are required for a dose-dispensing machine (e.g. the tablets are too fragile and when exposed to the filling equipment they afford dust which makes the filling difficult or impossible). Today no product is available on the market containing a calcium-containing compound as a therapeutically and/or prophylactically active substance and being chewable, i.e. having an acceptable taste and mouthfeel, and at the same time having sufficient technical properties to enable dispensing via a dose-dispensing machine. Accordingly, it is not possible for patients to obtain a daily dose package packed by a dose-dispensing machine, which package includes one or more calcium-containing chewable tablets. The present inventors address this issue by providing a tablet that is sufficient robust to withstand packaging by a dose-dispensing machine and at the same time gives the patient or the user the liberty of choosing whether she wants to chew, suck and/or swallow the tablet, i.e. the improved technical properties do not impair an acceptable taste and mouthfeel.